Torment: Tides of Numenera - Alpha Preview

They did say that the UI is getting a rework in next few weeks/months.

What are people even commenting on? Did we see the same video? The video that I saw didn't actually show any real gameplay, just a bit of walking and tons of text. It's very hard to pass judgement based on what little is shown, unless there's some video I haven't seen yet.

It is called Alpha Systems Test, it is not a Alpha build or Alpha Preview.

It's a playable portion of the game and meant to create feedback.

Absolutely loved the voiceovers in game, feels like you are in the room with a real game master and he is narrating events of adventure to you. Hope the rest of the game will be similarly narrated.

Originally Posted by Maylander
What are people even commenting on? Did we see the same video? The video that I saw didn't actually show any real gameplay, just a bit of walking and tons of text.

I think this describes Planescape: Torment as well. You had the nameless one,walking around to npcs that would proceed to throw walls and walls of text at you. Once you got done with one npc, you would slowly amble to the next and get more walls of text. Every so often, that would stop and you would explore a little dungeon or fight a few battles, then it was back to text-o-rama. Never understood anyone's fascination with that game

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Never understood anyone's fascination with that game

Hey, how many books have you played that were better or more gloriously verbose?

LOL, none. It was the best book I've ever played on the pc, though not read. I couldn't finish it, as the story was a little dull, but still…..

that was not impressive… but it doesn't diminish the hopes I have for the finished game.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
LOL, none. It was the best book I've ever played on the pc, though not read. I couldn't finish it, as the story was a little dull, but still…..

Nothing really grabbed me about the game, except I found it neat that they integrated stats so well into the dialogues.

I suppose if the setting and writing had appealed to me, I might have enjoyed it a lot more.

Yes! The stats in the dialogue was amazing. That part of the game was way cool, there was just too much of it. I need way more play time than read time in something that calls itself a game. Today, PST would be called a Virtual Novel.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
LOL, none. It was the best book I've ever played on the pc, though not read. I couldn't finish it, as the story was a little dull, but still…..

It is expected that games like these are not for you. As a Bethesda fan, you of course like light reading that requires no thinking.

Originally Posted by Brumbek
My inner-thinking when seeing this:

I hope this is cool! Errr…those graphics…I'm sorry…very poor. That animation framerate…from 1995. That huge text-box…is this a text adventure? I know it is a throwback game, but nobody wants to terrible technology from back then. I'm being mean again! I should be nice! But they are selling me a product; shouldn't they try to adhere to modern standards?

I want to like it…but again, after years of effort this is all they have to show? Am I doing them a favor or are they selling a product? Is this truly what backers wanted? Surely people want modern tech and quality of life along with the epic story and settings of the original? …sigh…

Performance was expected to be variable across different setups. Remember that this is an unoptimized alpha build and we're giving it to the public (tens of thousands of possible combinations of hardware and software) for the first time. If you see someone playing the game and performance is rough, that's just lack of optimization or compatibility issue you can expect from a game that's still deep in development.

During the bulk of production, we prioritize content creation and features over polish, optimization and bug fixing. Most "player experience" elements like that don't fully come together until the end of the project when most of the game content is locked down.

It's also worth clarifying that the ASTs are not really "alpha builds" of the final game. They're bite-sized chunks of game content meant to get feedback on specific elements of the game (such as, in this case, simple exploration and the conversation interface). These sorts of real-world playtests are very important because they let us hone in on popular backer opinion on how certain specific elements of the game are shaping up.

Top-notch writing! I was afraid they will be too sugary, but the first paragraphs drew me in. Reading is more enjoyable, when I completely mute audio so the readers voice doesn't disturb the imagery my mind makes. Skipped most to not spoil anything.

Excellent UI graphics. Good GUI arrangement.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Yes! The stats in the dialogue was amazing. That part of the game was way cool, there was just too much of it. I need way more play time than read time in something that calls itself a game. Today, PST would be called a Virtual Novel.

The writing is excellent so I don't mind a virtual novel feel.

I definitely like the PS:T/Adventure vibe from the video and I don't mind the reading, quite the opposite.

PS:T is one of my all-time favourite games so this is one of my most anticipated RPGs and have high expectations.

Yes, action RPGers may want sidestep this one. Walls of text is fine by me. By good writers.

Originally Posted by Thrasher
Yes, action RPGers may want sidestep this one. Walls of text is fine by me. By good writers.

Ha, my favorite games of all time are split between Dragon's Dogma and PS: Torment.

Torment is definitely one of my (if not my most) favorite RPG.

Of course, one has to be in a relaxed mood to read, not click-click-click frantically.

I played the AST and I loved it. It was like playing a living and breathing novella. And if the content doesn't look too much for you - it is only an alpha test of the character generation. Heck, every UX in it is a placeholder that will change in the final product.

Don't judge the book by its first early draft.